In the vast majority of residential South San Francisco, only one kind of home is permissible to build: detached standalone houses. This zoning scheme, often referred to as single-family zoning or R1 zoning, prohibits more affordable middle-housing choices like duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes (i.e., “plexes”). Currently, 72% of the city is zoned exclusively for detached single-family homes, creating invisible walls keeping out those who aren’t wealthy enough to afford this idealized kind of housing. These walls disproportionately exclude families of color who have had less access to multi-generational wealth-building due to explicitly racist (now illegal) housing practices including redlining, dispossession, and blockbusting. Today, implicitly racist exclusionary zoning harms us all by keeping essential workers priced out, forcing workers into long, climate-killing commutes, and worsening our already dire housing crisis.

Adding plexes city-wide will benefit everyone, particularly families with less wealth who would otherwise be locked out of neighborhoods. Middle-income renters would be particularly well-served by the new housing opportunities. However, homeowners would also benefit from additional flexibility to use their property to house parents, children, and grandchildren in comfortable multi-generational living arrangements.

Furthermore, homeowners would see increases in their property values as the capacity for more homes on their property is increased. While some neighbors fear that plexes will “destroy” the character of their neighborhood, evidence suggests otherwise. Plexes were actually built in South San Francisco prior to being banned and they already fit in harmoniously throughout the city. Without a policy shift to allow plexes, the only change we can anticipate in exclusionary neighborhoods is houses getting bigger and more expensive. Our communities desperately need more middle-class and workforce homes near jobs, schools, and transit. Let's re-legalize middle homes to help make the American dream of a safe, stable home accessible to families of all incomes!